Notes / Commercial Description:
Our English Style Export IPA features 100% English hops and a big malt backbone built upon pale and caramel malted barley. The hop varietals, Pilgrim and East Kent Goldings, lend a quality of lemon and spice, which play off of the fruity flavors contributed by the London ale yeast.

India Pale Ales (IPAs) were first brewed in England during the late 1700s for export overseas to British soldiers in India. To keep their beer from spoiling during the long voyage, English brewers fortified their traditional pale ale recipes with natural preservatives: more malted barley, for a higher alcohol content, and more hops. In recent decades, with growing appreciation for highly hopped beers, American craft brewers have revived the style, embraced it, and incorporated new hop varieties. Our Special Release IPAs further those traditions and showcase the distinctions of hops from different hemispheres.

Reviews by robboyd:

I've been impressed by the Schlafly brews I've tried in the past so I picked up this sixer for IPA day. It looks nice enough on the pour, a nice deep amber color with a good head that dissipated over the first few minutes of drinking. Smell was off on this beer for an IPA. It reminded more of macro domestic beers than any IPA I've ever smelled. It had a stronger malt character than I would expect from an IPA. The taste was off too. Strong malt and baked bread. Boozy with a not enjoyable bitterness to it. Overall, I can't say this will be a beer I purchase again.

More User Reviews:

I love the label on this one. Bottle pours a hazy, golden amber body with a two finger, offwhite hued head. Lavish lacing adorns the glass.

Aroma is floral and herbal hops. A hint of toffee lurks underneath.

Medium body and carbonation is accented by an earthy and leafy, dry hopped feel.

Taste has a dominant floral and grassy hop bitterness. Never would have thought this was 8% abv. Understated malt presence lends some caramel sweetness that is just enough for balance. Some herbal tea character midway through adds interest. Finishes dry and leafy, with a lasting bitterness.

Another excellent Schlafly ale. I'm really starting to trust these folks to turn out high quality potables.

12 ouncer, "Bottled with love on 05 06 2009" on the bottom of the front label. Pours darker amber, burnt orange, the head is light tan, frothy, leaves a thick collar, and ample sheeting down low and strands of stick. Mild hop nose, with some dough in the rear. Full bodied and coating on the tongue. Nice depth of flavors, plenty of sweet and then a soft yet quite drying finish. Full bodied and nicely flavorful. Almost tastes like an old ale or a lite Barley wine. Which I suppose is a compliment and means that this is a flavorful and moderatly complex Brit style ale. Well done, enjoyable night capper for me.

Schlafly Export IPA is a big beer. I didn't realize this beer was bottled on 3-24-10 when I bought it a couple weeks back, but this IPA has held up surprisingly well.

It pours an orange tinted gold that is just about the haziest beer I've ever poured. I don't think it's yeast, just precipitated proteins from the high alcohol and hopping. The aroma is like a very malt like a toasted cracker with floral and tropical fruit perfume that hit hard in the end. The beer is smoothly bitter with a lot of toasted malt flavor, yeasty fruitiness, and a honeyed sweetness. The mouthfeel is nice, but the alcohol presence makes does numb and dry the tongue a bit.

This is definitely not on the American-style IPA. It has a more timid and earthy hop profile and says "English Style: IPA right on the label.

12 oz bottle, bottled on 20 May 2013, served in a snifter.

This English-style IPA pours hazy, medium amber in color, with a head that dies down to a partial coat rather quickly but, nonetheless, leaves a good bit of sticky lacing. Particularly nice mouthfeel for style.

Aroma: reflects a mix of lemon, generic citrus, and spicy/earthy qualitites from the hops. Wet-bread aroma from the malts in the background.

Taste: The English hops dominate: they are spicy and bitter, with a touch of lemon. Mildly bitter and earthy aftertaste.

Pours a cloudy pale color with three fingers of head. Huge hop aroma that kinda knocks you on your ass. The taste doesn't stand up to the hop aroma. Very smooth and thick flavor. This beer hides it's alcohol extremely well, it doesn't taste nearly as alcoholic as it is.

The beer feels a little thick on the tongue. I've never had an IPA that had this little hop character.

Pours a light amber color. A bit clearer than I expected. The head is bright white and hugely thick. Major retention and that classic IPA look where it falls in on itself.

Good balance smell with enough malty notes to work in conjuction with the floral, slightly fruity, and earthy hops.

Clean, biscuity flavor. It's mostly a hop bomb so you get a hit of malt early on, then it's all hops.

The hoppy bitter is aggressive, but not offensive. It's there from beginning to end, but you can still feel your teeth after each sip. Medium to full bodied. As opposed to an American IPA, it's got an English IPA's wet finish. No resiny coating of the tongue.

I really prefer American IPA and don't care much for their English counterpart, but this was pretty appropriate for the style. Not sure what the IBU count was, but it's up there, though it's still very drinkable.